


in the sea that's painted black

by marshie_marshmallow



Category: Fire Emblem Echoes: Mou Hitori no Eiyuu Ou | Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, F/F, Nagamas 2019, also a whole bunch of other people, count the cameos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:09:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21946354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marshie_marshmallow/pseuds/marshie_marshmallow
Summary: Catria gets lost in space. A pretty girl comes to her rescue.
Relationships: Clea | Clair/Katua | Catria
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7
Collections: Nagamas Gifts





	in the sea that's painted black

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Solrosfalt](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Solrosfalt/gifts).



> nagamas for the prompt "catria/clair - space pilots au"
> 
> i pulled the title from "king and lionheart" by of monsters and men, because it fit the space theme

The incessant beeping was getting on Catria's nerves. Both the noise itself and the fact that it served as a reminder of her dire situation. She was almost out of fuel and, with it, her air filtration system. If she didn't find a friendly ship or a space station or a _planet_ to land on soon, she was going to end up lost alone in space.

Just her luck that her navigator would break while on a solo mission.

She didn't know how far she had let herself drift trying to preserve fuel. She seriously doubted she was anywhere close to any of the planets in the Archanean League anymore. Even if she was, trying to navigate in space without a navigator was... well, impossible. She had two emergency oxygen tanks for when the filtration system gave out but those would only buy her a few hours of drifting alone and praying for help to arrive.

 _Damn it all_ , she thought as she curled her knees up to her chest and buried her face in them. She hated being so helpless. Hated that Palla and Est would probably never know what happened to her. This wasn't even a combat mission. Just scouting and she was going to _die_ because she hadn't thought to check that her navigator was in perfect condition before leaving.

The speaker crackled to life. _“Incoming transmission from an unknown ship. Receive?”_

She looked up. There, across from her in perfect view, was another ship. Pegasus-class, like her own. Was she being rescued?

Suddenly frantic, she hit the button to confirm the transmission.

“Hello?” she said, trying to hide how freaked out she'd been.

“ _Hello!”_ came the cheery voice from the other end. _“Your distress signal is alight. Having a bit of trouble there?”_

“Uh... yeah. My, um, navigator broke. I haven't been able to locate a landing point and I'm almost out of fuel as a result.”

“ _Oh, dear. That **is** terrible... Well, not to worry. I can tow you!”_

“Um... are you sure that's safe? Your ship's about the same size as my own...”

“ _It won't be far. We're rather close to a landing point.”_

“I... If you're sure.”

She turned to her controls to set herself to prepare to be towed as the other ship turned around. Once the clamps from the other ship were in place and secure, she opened the transmission again.

“Uh... I should probably introduce myself to my rescuer, shouldn't I?”

“ _Oh, dear. We did forget that part, didn't we?”_

“Yeah, um... I'm Catria, of the Macedonian Whitewings. The best Pegasus-class fighters in the Archanean League!” She couldn't keep the pride out of her voice at that.

“ _Well, you are a ways from home!”_ The other pilot laughed. _“Clair, of the Zofian Deliverance. Well, now that we're all introduced, shall we be going?”_

“Um... we shall.”

* * *

Clair was right when they said it wouldn't take long. There was another, larger ship not far from their location which they docked in. Once the hangar doors were closed and the green light was on, Catria could finally open her cockpit and stumble out of the cramped ship.

“Oh, thank fuck,” she muttered as she landed on the floor on all fours.

“Yes, you're quite safe now.” Even without the distortion of the transmission, that was Clair's voice. Catria looked up to see her rescuer for the first time.

Clair, as it turned out, was a pretty girl wearing a light blue pilot's jumpsuit. Her light blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail with a tinted visor resting on her head, presumably to block out light from passing too close to stars. A belt was strapped around her waist with a holstered pistol and a collapsible weapon of some kind, possibly a spear, like Catria's own. She was reaching down with a hand outstretched.

Catria took the hand and allowed herself to be pulled to her feet. “Thank you,” she said. “For rescuing me.”

“No trouble at all. I'll talk with my brother and we'll see about getting your navigator repaired and some fuel for your ship. Get you back home.”

“Your brother?”

“Clive. He's one of the highest-ranking people on this ship. Also Mathilda, Alm, and-” she cut herself off suddenly before continuing “- and Celica.”

“Alright.”

She let Clair lead her out of the hangar and into the next room, where a bored-looking guy with blue hair was staring at the monitors. He must have been the one who opened the hangar door. He glanced Catria over before turning to Clair.

“Clive know you're bringing girls home now?” he asked.

“Bringing... Honestly, Python! I simply answered a distress beacon!”

The guy – Python – shrugged and turned back to the monitors. “Well, have fun explaining it to the guy.”

Clair rolled her eyes and continued out the other door.

The ship they were on was huge, enough that the hum and vibrations of the engine barely registered to Catria. Its style wasn't like any in the Archanean League, though. The symbols etched on the walls was that of the closest system to the League, the twin planets of Valentia. Then again, Clair had said she was from the Zofian Deliverance, so that was kind of obvious. Come to think of it...

“Hey, um... weird question. You said you're of the Zofian Deliverance... What exactly is the Zofian Deliverance?”

She didn't recall anything by that name in the texts she had read on Valentia. Even for their close proximity, the systems didn't interact much. Information was limited. How _had_ she ended up so far out of the League?

Clair blinked at her. “Resistance fighters. We're resistance fighters.”

“Resistance- What are you talking about?” Who were they resisting? The last thing she needed was to be caught up in another planet's – especially a _non-League_ planet's – civil war.

“I suppose you haven't heard over in the League, have you? There was a coup. Rigel and Zofia have been at war for a while now and some people were seduced by the promise of power to, well...”

Catria swallowed. “I can guess.”

“Right. So, we're what remains of those who won't bow to Desaix, the leader of the coup.”

“Hm. Not long ago, there were power struggle issues in Macedon. They're still sort of ongoing if I'm to be completely honest.”

“Ah! Here we are!” Clair said as they reached a large set of double doors. She pressed the button on the wall and the doors slid open.  
Inside was the bridge of the huge ship. Several navigational and control terminals were staffed by various people. The front half of the room was a huge window, looking out into space. Standing in front of it was a blonde-haired man, a slightly taller blonde woman, and a shorter green-haired... well, boy.

“Hello, Clive!” Clair said, waving.

The blonde man looked up with something of a smile before he spotted Catria. His face immediately dropped into something much more serious-looking. “Clair.”

“Yes, dear brother?”

“Who is this?”

“Catria.”

Catria, unsure of the correct protocol for this situation, settled for giving a stiff bow and hoping that it didn't make her seem weird. “Yes. Um, Catria. I'm from the Archanean League. Macedonian Whitewings. My ship's navigator broke while on a mission and I drifted off-course.”

“I simply answered her distress signal!” Clair added. “We'll need to have someone look at her navigator and give her some fuel.”

“Do you have identification?” the green-haired boy asked, approaching. “Not that I don't believe you but Clive here always yells at me if I just do these things without consulting him or double-checking.”

Clive opened his mouth to say something but the woman hushed him and patted his arm.

Catria tapped her wrist device, letting it project her credentials. “This back up my story enough?”

The boy leaned forward and inspected the projection for a second before rocking back on his heels. “Yeah, that's fine. I'm sure Celica would back me up on that. She's working down in the med bay right now, though.” He smiled as Catria closed the projection. “I'm Alm. I'm... well, I'm one of the leaders of the Deliverance.”

“... Huh.” He was so much younger than she would have expected. Then again, quite a few teenagers in the League had been forced to step up to leadership roles, especially Marth. “A pleasure to meet you.”

“Same to you. Wish the circumstances were better.”

“We'll see to your ship,” the woman said. “In the meantime, Clair, why don't you see about letting our guest get some food and rest? I imagine she could use it after being trapped in such a situation.”

“Oh, that's fine. You don't have to-”

“Mathilda is right,” Clair interrupted. “You've just been through an extremely harrowing experience. Come along.”

She didn't give Catria another chance to protest, instead grabbing her wrist and pulling her off the bridge. The doors closed on a very bemused-looking Alm and then she was being led down the hallways of the ship towards living areas.

* * *

Clair, she learned over dinner, became a pilot because her brother was one, though he piloted a much sturdier and slower Cavalier-class ship. They were from a high-class family in Zofia and it was Clive who started the Deliverance alongside Mathilda and man named Fernand. Fernand had some kind of falling-out with the others recently and had left, leaving Alm to step up as the third leader.

Catria swallowed. “Wait. Then what about the Celica that you mentioned before? Isn't that four leaders?”

Clair avoided eye contact. “The situation with Celica is... something else entirely.”

Catria was suspicious of what that meant. She had some ideas but it wasn't her place to be questioning that. She was lucky she had been saved at all. Once her ship was repaired, she'd be out of there for good.

“Tell me about yourself.”

She paused. “What?”

Clair propped her chin on her hands, staring across the table at Catria. “I've told you about me. Tell me about you. All I really know about you is that you're of Macedon's Whitewings.”

“Uh, okay, uh... Well, I have two sisters. Palla's older, Est's younger. We're all Whitewings, actually. Um...” Crap, what was she supposed to say? Talking about herself was difficult. “Um... We all fought in the huge war that the League just dealt with. I don't... know what else to say. I'm not a very interesting person.”

“Oh, come now, there must be something! Hobbies?”

“I don't... Um... I can't think of any hobbies? I don't know...”

“What about friends?”

“Friends? Um... well, there's Commander Minerva... And...”

“And...?”

“I don't know.”

Clair pouted. “Aw, surely you must have something you can talk about.”

“I'm not a very interesting person. I'm sorry.”

“Don't apologize. How are you feeling now? Are you tired?”

Catria looked down at her empty plate. “Yeah, actually. I'd like to lie down for a bit.”

Clair nodded. “Very well. I won't keep you here, then.”

Honestly, Catria thought, she didn't mind chatting with Clair. It was just the total lack of interesting things about Catria herself that was a problem.

* * *

She woke up to alarms and flashing lights. There was a pounding on the door of the tiny cabin she was sleeping in before it opened to reveal the blue-haired man from earlier, Python.

“There you are,” he said. “Clair said she'd put you in this cabin.”

“Wait, what's going on?” she asked as she rolled off the bed.

“A Rigelian ship. We've been forcibly boarded. Hate to drag you into our problems but, if they find you on our ship, they're gonna assume you're one of us. Hope you know your way around a melee fight, pilot lady.”

Catria narrowed her eyes as she pulled her weapons out of the drawer underneath the bed. “I've seen my share of combat.”

“Good. We're just trying to drive them off the ship and fend them off long enough to initiate a hyperspace jump. Sorry but it looks like you're going to be stuck with us a while longer.”

Annoying but, given the circumstances, she could hardly be mad at them. Python led her down the hallways, sniper rifle at the ready. She pulled her blaster out, ready to fire at a moment's notice.

“Where's everyone else?” she asked.

“Clive, Mathilda, and Clair are all off in their ships, dealing with the enemy pilots. Everyone else is... around here. This place is huge and we're pretty small but so is the group that boarded us. Nastily strong group of bastards, though.”

“Is that all the fighter pilots you have?”

“Unfortunately.”

“... What if I join in?”

“Isn't your ship broken?”

She shook her head. “Just the navigator. So long as I stay near the ship, I'll be fine. I mean, I don't know if you guys have re-fueled it yet but-”

“We have but still... Risky move.”

“Yeah but... The enemies gotta have more pilots than three people can take on, right?”

“It's not just that. They'd be a lot more likely to notice you, then. You'd be marked as a member of the Deliverance in Rigel's eyes.”

She shook her head. “Doesn't matter. You guys saved my life. The least I can do is pay you back. How do we get to the hangar from here?”

“Well, it's your head...” he muttered before raising his voice. “It's a couple of levels down. We'll probably have to fight our way there.”

That wasn't wrong about that. Just getting to the elevator was a hassle. At one point, they had to resort to hiding behind two other Deliverance members, Lukas and Forsyth, who blocked a hallway from enemy fire with energy shields. At another, they passed by surveillance cameras and witnessed Alm on another floor, locked in single combat with a very tall, very angry-looking guy. Not to mention, even when they got to the elevator, they found the elusive Celica and a guy with an eyepatch fending off more soldiers.

If this was a 'small' force, Catria didn't want to know what a large force was.

They reached the bottom deck by elevator, Celica and Eyepatch Guy in tow, and found it blissfully empty. They were able to reach the hangar with no problem.

“Everyone must be on the upper levels,” Python said.

“Great,” Catria said. “I'll need you to open the hangar doors for me.”

“Are you sure this is the wisest idea?” Celica asked.

“I asked her pretty much the same thing,” Python said. “I don't think we can talk her out of it.”

“I see. Well, be careful. Don't stray too far from our ship.”

“I won't.”

There were a good few more Rigelian pilots than the Deliverance had. Catria didn't regret her decision to take this risk at all as she threw herself and her ship straight into the fray. Clair, on the other hand, apparently didn't like this new development at _all_. Within seconds, the comm was crackling to life.

“ _Catria, what do you think you're **doing**?”_

“Helping!”

“ _Your ship is damaged!”_

“Just the navigator! Weapons and controls are all fully functional! If I don't stray too far, I'll be fine!”

“ _That's still too much of a-”_

Clair's voice was cut off by enemy fire. Catria wasted no time in going after the firing ship. When Clair then tried to resume yelling over the comm, she was quickly shushed as Catria set to work.

Ship combat was nothing new to her. That was a Whitewing's job and everything from the recent League war was still fresh in her mind. She was quick and deadly as she wove in and out of the enemy ships. Clair's ship was never far behind, taking out whatever Catria couldn't. They were perhaps not as in sync as Catria would be with her sisters or Minerva but they did make a deadly team.

Meanwhile, Clive and Mathilda took out the heavier ships that would have stood up better against a Pegasus ship's fire. Or were there three of them? Catria could have sworn Python said that the Deliverance had two Cavalier-class ships and one Pegasus-class, yet there seemed to be _three_ Cavaliers fighting on their side.

At some point, the enemy cruisers started falling back. The comm sparked to life again.

“ _It looks like I'll have to relay for you since you're not hooked up to the ship's system,”_ Clair said. _“We seem to have forced a retreat. The enemy soldiers are warping back to their ship. We'll need to get back into the hangar and prepare for a hyperspace jump to safer coordinates.”_

“Alright.” She blinked, squinting to try to make out the ship. Had she gotten further away than intended? Or... no, there it was. She could just barely make it out.

As she pulled closer, she could see Clair's ship hovering still outside, apparently anticipating her arrival before pulling into the hangar. The moment she was parked and stepping out of her ship, she was accosted by a blue-haired lady in a medic's robes, who refused to let her go talk to anyone or do anything until it was determined that she had no serious injuries. Several minutes of being fussed over later, she was free to leave, noting as she did so that there were, in fact, only two Cavalier ships.

“Where's Clair?” she asked the medic as she reached the door.

“Faye's already checked her over,” was the reply. “I believe she was headed to the bridge with Clive and Mathilda. She just left, though. You should be able to catch up with her.”

She nodded, sprinting down the hall. Just in time, as Clair was about to reach the elevator when she arrived.

“There you are!”

Clair whipped around, looking miffed. “What the _hell_ was that?”

“What?”

“Why would you risk-”

“Oh. That.”

“Don't interrupt me!”

“Hey, it all worked out. Don't tell me you would have been able to take all those guys on with just the three of you... Or... Four of you? It seemed like there were four.”

Clair sighed. “Ah, yes. _Him._ He shows up sometimes to give us a hand. It would seem that he's been stalk- _following_ Celica for quite some time, protecting her from danger. We're not sure what his goal is. But he is _not_ what we're discussing! What if you had strayed too far from our ship and gotten lost again?”

“I think you probably would have come looking for me.”

Clair didn't answer that, instead leaning against the wall of the hallway. After several long moments, she finally continued. “And what will you do now that they think we have another fighter ship? That you're one of us?”

“Right... Python mentioned that, too... Well, for now, I'll just stick with you guys. I still can't go home until you _do_ fix the navigator. Besides, it just doesn't feel right imposing on you like this and then leaving when you're fighting a war.”

“A war that you have no place in, Catria.”

“Maybe so. Still, the war in the League was a matter of fighting for freedom. Macedon during the war was...” She shook her head. “I can't stay here forever. I know that. Palla and Est are probably sick with worry already. Still, I'm not leaving yet. I owe you for saving my life, after all, and we in Macedon take our debts _very_ seriously.”

“You shouldn't have to pay me back for helping. It was the right thing to do.”

“But I _want_ to pay you back.” She awkwardly reached out, setting a hand on Clair's shoulder. “Anyway, we're about to head to a completely different part of space and also I can't leave until my navigator's fixed. This is an issue for another time.”

“I suppose.” She sighed, pushing the hand off. “I'm sorry for dragging you into all this.”

“And I'm sorry to be taking up space on your ship when I'm not even Zofian! We can work this out later.”

Clair pressed the button for the elevator. “We should get going. Clive's probably getting worried about me not meeting up with him yet.”

“Yeah... Siblings, huh?”

She giggled. “Yes, I suppose. No matter how old I get, he'll always fuss over me.” She glanced back at the doors. “... Thank you. Even if I don't like the decision, you're right that the fight would have been much harder without you jumping in.”

“Hey, thank _you_ for saving my life.”

Clair awkwardly grabbed her hand as the elevator door opened and pulled her in. “Well, then-” she put both her hands over Catria's and held them up “- I suppose we're at a stalemate.”

Catria laughed, though she couldn't say from what. Maybe it was just the rush of emotions that came with the end of a battle or just the fact that a pretty girl was clutching her hand so tightly. “Let's get going then. We've got to get out of here, after all.”

As the elevator door closed, Catria thought that maybe being stuck in foreign space wasn't the _worst_ thing to have ever happened to her. Not if it meant this.


End file.
